Law firm to challenge decision not to prosecute driver involved in Ying Tao collision

Law firm Leigh Day are to write to the City of London police asking them to review their decision not to prosecute the lorry driver involved in the fatal collision with cyclist Ying Tao at London’s Bank Junction last year. A three-day inquest at City of London coroner’s court heard this week that Lee Williams began indicating 1.44 seconds before turning left, the indicator flashing just twice.

The court also heard that an audible warning system and one of two side sensors on the 32-tonne truck were broken – although there is no legal requirement for HGVs to have these.

City of London police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to bring criminal charges against Williams on the grounds that the evidence did not meet the necessary threshold.

Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Tao’s husband Jin Chuan Zhou, said: “Given the evidence that has been shown in court it’s hard to understand why there was no prosecution.”

Leigh Day’s Sally Moore said: “Having carefully considered the police collision investigation and sat through the three-day inquest, we will be writing to the City of London Police on behalf of Ms Tao’s family requesting that they review their decision not to bring criminal charges against the driver.”

Moore, head of the personal injury team, said that Leigh Day would also be making a formal complaint regarding the evidence provided by City Police collision investigator PC Tim Harryman.

Harryman said Tao had been in the wrong gear; had placed herself in an unsafe position in a bike lane beside the lorry; and had been too slow to move off when the lights changed.

He told the court: “I don’t believe it’s a careless act... it’s a very busy junction with lots going on and lots vying for Mr Williams’s attention. I can understand how Ms Tao would have been missed in that situation.”

Moore called Harryman’s evidence “a clear case of victim-blaming.”

A City of London police statement said:

“Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends of Ms Tao, as they have been since this tragic incident took place. The police’s role is to investigate all circumstances surrounding an incident, not to apportion blame.

“An investigation into the circumstances of this incident was carried out and concluded in November 2015 with the decision to take no further action. At this time we have no plans to review this decision.”